Barbecue Spare Ribs with Cabbage Salad

by BiteSizedJessica on January 28, 2013

Jonathan and I have been eating way too much takeout. I am seriously starting to feel guilty about it, both because it is kind of a waste of money and also because it isn’t that healthy. I really think we have eaten either Grand Szechuan or Thailand Café for dinner 6 times in the last two weeks…that is so unacceptable. And on nights that we aren’t chopsticking our way through takeout, Jon’s been making frozen dumplings at home that we got from Vanessa’s, a legit dumpling place in Chinatown that sells them by the dozen for dirt cheap.

It’s gotten to the point where we’ve started to make entire meals based on takeout. We have leftover Chinese or Thai takeout rice that we make into fried rice to eat with our dumplings. Recently we went bananas buying various soy sauces, rice wine vinegars and sesame oil to make dipping sauce at Sunrise Mart, a little Japanese grocery on 9th street on the second floor of a building, above a sushi place.

In addition to the unhealthiness of eating takeout every night, it is starting to cost us a small fortune just to eat dinner together five nights a week. Since we had been sent these St. Louis style pork ribs by our friends at US Wellness Meats, we decided to make our own barbecue spareribs with a soy-cabbage salad. The ribs were phenomenal, and the cabbage salad is one I invented a while ago to get Jon to eat cabbage…apparently if I put soy sauce on something, he loves it. Hope you try this recipe next time you’re considering ordering in!

Once you’ve toasted and ground the spices, rub the dry mixture generously over both sides of your ribs.

Combine marinade ingredients in a bowl and coat ribs with sauce. Let them sit in the marinade, tightly covered, for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.

When you are ready to cook the ribs, preheat the oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with foil and set a rack over it. Place the ribs on the rack and cover them with foil. Roast them for 30 minutes, then flip them, baste with the marinade, cover and roast for 30 minutes more.

After an hour, uncover the ribs and blast the heat up to 450°. Baste the ribs again and roast until crispy and browned. Let rest before slicing.